The individuals in our family
have each kept a "Blessing Book" for years,
where we record our blessings of the day. I thought it
would be interesting to post some of these blessings on
The Woodshed's home page. Since I can't fit all our
blessings on the home page, here is the overflow of
older blessings. I will continue to transfer past
blessings from the home page to this page, as I add new
ones. Elizabeth

March 9, 2006:
"I Don't Deserve to Eat: Last week a
professional violinist friend of ours came into town to
audition for an orchestra in our area. He asked us only
for a bed and a quiet place to practice, and he declined
our offers of food. When we tried to coax him to eat he
insisted that he "didn't deserve to eat yet".

Although he had been diligently preparing for this
audition for months, he still practiced the entire day
straight through. Finally, minutes before he was to
leave for the evening audition, he packed up his violin
and came down to the kitchen and smiled and said,
"NOW I deserve to eat!"

What a unique attitude. If I were to apply that thinking
I'd likely have no weight problems and would be a lot
better violin player. (It wouldn't hurt me to apply it
in a few other areas of my life as well.) I think I'll
be pondering how to instill this attitude in my children
as well.

"If anyone will not work,
neither let him eat." II Th. 3:10 (NAS)

February 10,
2006:I Remember When...
My 5 year old, Jeffy, was
snuggling in bed with me the other night before he went
to his own bed. He and I had been listening to an
Agapeland tape wherein the mom was telling her children
about when she was a little girl. After the story ended,
Jeffy said, "I remember when I was a little
boy...." He, he, he. Pretty cute coming
from a 5 year old.

December 20,
2005:Birthday Surprise:
My 5yo ninth-born just came to me and said, "This
is your birthday card for when it's your birthday."
"But my birthday is in August!" I responded,
"This is just December!" "Well, you can't
see it until your birthday," he replied. Then he
added, "...But it has a heart on the back."

November 15,
2005:
What Dad does for a Living:
10yo 7th-born son: Mom, what does dad do at work?
Mom: What?! Don't you know what dad does for a living?
10yo: Well, I know he does a lot with papers, but I
don't know what the papers say.

January 28,
2005:
Changing the Heart by Changing the Face: 11/04 -
Every year in late November we take our annual Christmas
card photo. Trying to get 12 people (including a passel
of kids) to look nice all at once is a task, so this
year it was taking awhile. After about an hour (and at
least 50 digital shots) our 4yo started pouting and
looking miserable. He actually managed to squeeze some
silent tears out. Dad was thinking of giving up and
trying again tomorrow. I was thinking: "NO WAY am I
going to go through this again tomorrow!" So I
said, "Jeffy, look at me." He looked. I said,
"Why are you crying?" He said, "Because
I'm tired." I said, "Do you want to ruin the
picture with your crying face?" He said,
"No", as though he hadn't thought of that. I
wiped the tears off his face and said, "Okay, now
let's see you smile. Do your funny Donald Duck face,
only not all the way. Just do your Donald Duck face a
little bit - there, that's it! You look very nice
now!" By this time, Jeffy was almost starting to
giggle and I had to be careful not to talk to him to
cheerfully lest his giggling ruin more pics! Anyway, he
smiled very nicely for the rest of the photos (including
the one we eventually chose as the best one). You could
easily tell that his whole attitude had changed and he
was enjoying the rest of the photo shoot. So yes, I
commanded my child to smile, and he obeyed, and it
changed his heart.

December 9,
2004:
4yo Jeffy: Mom!....Mom!....Mom!Dad: (in a high-pitched faked voice) Yes, Jeffy?
This is mom, what do you want?Jeffy: (slight pause)...Mom!....Mom!Dad: (still with high voice) Yes, Jeffy? Here I
am. What do you want?Jeffy: You're not Mom.Dad: (still with high voice) How do
you know I'm not Mom?Jeffy: (thinks for a second) Because
Mom has brown eyes and you have blue eyes.
:)

September 20,
2004:Jeffy:
(holding out his index finger to show mom) Mom, my
fingoor huurts.Mom: Aww, let me kussy (kiss) it. (Mom gives
Jeffy's finger 6 tiny kisses going from the base to the
end.)Mom: There, is that better?Jeffy: (seriously) It might need a bandaid. Mom: Naw, I don't think it needs a bandaid - I
don't see any blood. Do you see any blood?Jeffy: No. (then looking at a very tiny pink dot
on his hand....) Here's some blood. This is a skeeto
bite.Mom: (showing Jeffy a similar tiny spot on her
own hand....) Look, I have one of those too.Jeffy: (says nothing, but tenderly kisses the
tiny spot on Mom's hand 'to make it better'. ) :-)
September 1, 2004:3yo: "Dad,
what's your special name? Not your 'dad' name...your
other name."

August 17, 2004:
Two Cute Quips:

19yo son: (to
me, his dieting mother) Mom, what is that you are
eating?!!!Mom: (innocently) It's just a half sandwich.19yo son: Noooo, that's a whole sandwich on one
slice of bread.

3yo son: (climbs
up on to the couch next to Mom and gives her a hug.)Mom: (cuddling him back) Are you my favorite 3
year old?3yo son: Yeah. You can keep me if you want to .

April 12, 2004:Just as I
begin fixing dinner every night, I always notice 3 or 4
little children suddenly appear and "want something
to eat". Well today was typical. I had the pizza
dough made and risen, and I turned on the oven and began
fussing in the kitchen when my 3yo showed up asking me
for food:

Jeffy: Mom, can I have someping to eat?Mom: What?Jeffy: Can I have someping to eat?Mom: Someping? What's "someping"?Jeffy: Someping to eat.Mom: Can you say, "SomeTHing"?Jeffy: SomePing.Mom: Say, "some".Jeffy: Some.Mom: Good, now say "THing".Jeffy: Ping.Mom: THing, like "THing one and THing
two" (from Dr. Suess)Jeffy: (pauses) Mom, can I have some milk?

LOL! I guess he was getting tired of working on his
pronunciation skills!
April 6, 2004:3yo Jeffy: Mom,
will you play Candy Land with me? I'll let you win. :-)

April 3, 2004:
A dear mom from our message board wrote in to tell us
about this exchange that occurred between her and her
child recently. When I read it I just had to share it.
Enjoy!

Child: "Mommy can we do that tomato slicing
thing tomorrow?"

Mom: "What tomato slicing thing?"

Child: "That thing where we stay with you
all the time."

Mom: (laughing) "Yes, we can do that tomato
STAKING thing tomorrow."

Child: "Good, because I would really like to
spend some time with you." :-)

February 26,
2004:This morning
my 3yo asked for an apple. As he watched me cut and core
it, he advised me "not to cut my
finger". Then, as I handed him the pieces, he said
, "Mom, take the wrapper off." LOL, I had not
peeled the apple and he was calling the skin a
"wrapper". :-)

February 21,
2004:Several weeks ago dh
and I traveled to Palm Springs, California on a business
trip. We stayed 2 nights at a nice resort. While there,
I wandered around with a friend, and among other things,
stopped in at the resort's jewelry shop. We had a lot of
fun letting the gemologist show us all the things we
liked (she didn't mind at all), and by the time we left,
I had picked out 2 rings and a pair of earrings that I
really liked. I wrote the numbers and information about
the rings on the shop's business card, but didn't for
the earrings because they were very unusual and I wanted
to show them to dh before we left, and I could get the
information then.

Well, we never had time to go back to the shop (we were
so rushed we missed our plane and had to drive to LA to
catch another one). I was mildly disappointed because I
wanted dh to see the earrings especially. I didn't
really expect him to buy them, just wanted to share with
him something I liked looking at. So anyway, in the car
on the way to LA I went into great detail explaining
what the earrings looked like, while he daydreamed about
something entirely unrelated.

So, I forgot about them completely after that.

Fast forward to this week and our 27th wedding
anniversary. I totally forgot about that too, until dh
took me to the grocery store and stopped at the
"dozen roses for $6.99" table. He kissed me
and said "Happy Anniversary" and told me to
pick out some flowers for myself. For the first time in
27 years, I had absolutely no anniversary gift for him
(we have been extremely busy), so I was rather relieved
that my anniversary gift was only $6.99 in roses.

Then, about 11pm, I left my computer for a minute and
went to my bedroom to get something. When I came back
there was a card and a cute little bag sitting on my
computer. Hmmmmmm. It was my "real"
anniversary gift from dh, and guess what it was? THE
earrings!

Apparently, dh had rifled through my purse and found the
business card and called the jewelry shop. He didn't
have the info on the earrings, just on the rings, so he
had to try to jog the clerk's memory. He described the
earrings as best as he could, and finally she said she
thought she remembered someone who was interested in a
similar sounding pair, but she said the lady had not
tried them on. When she told dh that the lady had said,
"I don't have to try them on, I know they'll look
good", Dh knew the lady was me!

(He was right, they were the exact pair I'd looked at. I
guess he knows me pretty well.)

Happy Anniversary DH! (Anyone have any ideas of what
belated gift I can get him?)

December 2, 2003:
Last night,
shortly after dinner, my 3yo came to me looking
uncomfortable and telling me, "My tummy hurts. I
ate too much." His cute little tummy was a bit
tight feeling, but he really didn't seem ill. He then
executed several fake coughs, so I told him to go to the
bathroom if he thought he might have to spit up. (I
really didn't think he had to, but I knew he'd
appreciate the attention to his discomfort.) A few
minutes later he returned to inform me that he
"didn't have to throw up" because he
"feels good now" and "the food is all
down in my feet." :-)

November 19,
2003:There we were,
rushing around, doing last minute packing, as we were
due to leave for the airport and a trip to Florida in
only a few hours. I told the older kids to get the
little ones up and dressed, and a few minutes later I
saw the three youngest ones sitting around the basket of
clean miscellaneous socks, hunting for a pair apiece.

ONE HOUR later I
passed by to find them all in the same spot still
barefooted! "What IS the problem?" I
questioned, with a bit of urgency in my voice. "We
are running out of time and you still do not have your
shoes and socks on! That basket is overflowing with
socks. What is so hard about finding two socks that
match?"

"One sock is
easy," replied the 4yo, with a very serious look on
his face, "Two is hard."

August 10, 2003:Last night as
I was sitting at my computer, my barely verbal 2 year
old came up to me, and hugged my knee, and looked up at
me with his huge brown eyes, and muttered and mumbled
something. I had no clue what he was trying to tell
me. "What did you say?" I queried.
He started all over again and in the midst of the
jumbled mass of syllables I caught the request: "make
me happy". "How can I make you happy? What do
you want me to do?" I responded. More
mumbling, then: "Cookie". LOL! I t was very
clear that he knew exactly what he wanted and how
to get it! So of course I had no choice but to get
up and give him a cookie. :)

"If a
son asks for bread from any father among you, will he
give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give
him a serpent instead of a fish? "Or if he asks for
an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? "If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" - Luke
11:11-13 (NKJ)

July 23, 2003:How to Make a
Little Boy Smile: (Mom
comes out of the laundry room to find 4yo Jared kneeling
on a chair at the kitchen table. He had been playing by
himself, but apparently became bored and came downstairs
looking for something more interesting to do.)
Mom to Jared: Oh wow! Just the person I was looking
for! I have a JOB, just for you!

(There is no smile on Jared's face - more a look of
: "Oh no, what is she going to want me to do - I'd
rather play.")
Mom, with a hug and a cuddle: I've been looking all
over for you. I saved a special chore just for you.

(Mom points at a
small pile of freshly laundered rags on the table
waiting to be folded. Still no smile. Jared is
skeptical. This looks like work to him.)
Mom: I saved this chore for you because you are so
good at it. It's your favorite chore, right? (A slight
smile lights up Jared's face - it IS something he
normally likes to do, and he's also suddenly feeling
very happy that he is "good at" something.)

5yo brother Tom interrupts with a question: "What's
a chore?"

Mom, still smiling: A chore is something that we do
to help the whole family. Right Jared? (Jared is smiling
broadly now. He nods and jumps down from his chair to
hurry over and start the chore that he is "so good
at" and that "helps the whole family"!

Proverbs 16:21 -
".... a pleasant teacher is the best." (TLB)

Proverbs 15:13 - " A happy face means a glad
heart...."(TLB)

May 28,
2003:
Last night my 7yo, seventh-born came up to me and wanted
my attention as he carefully explained an experiment he
had just conducted. "When I put my hand over my
nose," he said seriously, "nothing
changed". "So I put my hand over my mouth, and
nothing changed then either." I had no idea what he
was talking about, but I listened patiently.
"Then", he continued," I put my my hand
over my nose AND mouth, and it started to hurt, so I
took it off."

BWAHHH! I guess he was discovering
how to breath!

May 6,
2003:5yo Tom:
Mom! There's an "insects" here on the floor.Mom: Hmmmm (she is only half listening as she
loads the dishwasher)7yo Michael: (observes bug and pronounces it an
"ant") If there is just one, then it's an
"insect", if there are lots, then they are
"insects". This is an "ant". Tom: (rushes to get a tissue) I'm going to get
him with this.Michael: Don't use that for an ant. We save our
tissues for spiders. We use the vacuum cleaner for
ants.......or a shoe.

BWAHAHAHAH!

December 5, 2002: Here is a blessing from my oldest daughter (age 20):

After a busy day in Florida, I was playing
dominoes with my 9yo, 7yo and 5yo little brothers, when
someone got the idea that before bed, they wanted to
have a hairstyling contest (yes, with MY long hair).
Their little contest ended up being so funny it was my
blessing for the day.

First the 9yo and the 7yo were each going to do half my
hair at the same time, and the 5yo was to be the judge.
That didn't work too well, so we decided that they
should each do all of my hair at once, taking turns.
First the 9yo tried some kind of bun with a barrette and
chopsticks. It was all falling down (from what I can
remember feeling) and he wasn't really satisfied with
it, but the 5yo said enthusiastically, "Oh, I LIKE
it!!"

We told him to remember what it
looked like, and then it was the 7yo's turn. He did some
kind of twist, and then I put the barrette in at the top
for him.

Well......

Our 5yo judge came in and looked and considered for some
time. The lack of chopsticks was probably tipping things
in the 9yo's favor, I thought. Finally he pronounced his
decision:

"I like the second way best, because of the
waterfall!!"

(.... The waterfall being all the ends of my hair that
were sticking straight
out to the side of the bun because my 7yo hairdresser
didn't, or wasn't able to, twist it underneath!)

September
19, 2002:Usually, if I
wake up before the little ones are up, I try to get in a
little violin practicing. Well, this morning Jeffy (just
turned 2yo) woke up earlier than usual, so I brought him
downstairs with me and gave him a bottle. Then I
bedded him down with a pillow and blanket on the
rug at foot of my music stand and I proceeded to
commence practicing. About 15 minutes later, Tom (just
turned 4yo) staggered sleepily into the room to join us.
As I played, I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
He walked past me and over to Jeffy. He bent over and
reached for the little quilt I'd covered Jeff up with.
"Oh no", I thought, "they are going to
start a tug-of-war over that quilt, which will turn to
bickering and squealing, and I'll have to stop and
correct them - sigh". I kept playing and watching.
To my utter amazement, Tom picked up the blanket, shook
out the wrinkles, and gently covered Jeffy back up
with it. How sweet! Definitely my blessing of the day!

Proverbs 17:17 - " A true friend is always loyal,
and a brother is born to help in time of need." (TLB)

September
11, 2002:
When I asked Tom what he wanted for his birthday, he
replied without skipping a beat, "Everything
Michael got for his birthday!"

August 20, 2002:
This morning I
got up at 7am when I heard a car pull in the driveway. I
looked out the window to find LOTS of cars in the
driveway! My cleaning people had been in the house
already for an hour, and the other cars belonged to a
huge crew of folks we had told could use our house to do
a photo shoot for some advertising. YIPES! To make a
really long story short, I threw on some clothes and
came downstairs, and the rest of the day until it was
dark in the evening, was spent watching models, and
camera crews, and directors, and various assistants, set
up and take hundreds of photos inside and out, for what
turned out to be a clothing catalog for the Audi car
company! What fun! My kids and our new kitten even got
to be in some of the photos, and they left us with a
model Audi car and an Audi baseball cap!

Psalm 24:1-6

1 The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, the
world, and those who dwell in it.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas, and established
it upon the rivers.
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may
stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not
lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn
deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and
righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek
Thy face-- {even} Jacob. Selah.
(NAS)

July 23, 2002:
This evening
the younger kids were playing in a little tent they have
in the basement, when the oldest, six years old, came
upstairs crying and telling me his hands hurt. I
couldn't see a thing wrong with them, so I asked what he
had been doing. I listened carefully while he explained
about putting the tent away and then about how his hands
had started hurting immediately thereafter. It didn't
sound as though he had injured his hands in any obvious
way (and they looked fine), so I told him to go wash
them good. I thought perhaps he had touched something
that was irritating them.

After he washed, I examined them more closely, and by
his reactions as I handled them, I eventually guessed
that he must have touched some fiberglass material,
perhaps some part of the tent, and had tiny fiberglass
slivers in his fingers. I got out the magnifying glass
and sure enough, that was it. After removing most of the
slivers with tweezers and tape, I heard my blessing of
the day:

"Mom, I think you are really pretty good at.....
well, you always
know what to do when a person gets hurt, right? How did
you get to be
almost like a doctor?"

He He He!
Proverbs 17:6 - "An old man's grandchildren are his
crowning glory. A child's glory is his father." (TLB)

April
12, 2002: About
ten years ago I came to the realization that I probably
needed reading glasses. The prospect didn't upset me too
much until I actually got the glasses. What a nuisance
they were! Still, instead of complaining about my
worsening eyesight and having to wear glasses, I caught
myself right away and THANKED GOD for the wonderful
invention of eyeglasses. How glad I was that I was
born in a time when glasses were readily available and
my poor vision could be made perfect once again,
"just like that".

Well, today I found
myself thanking God again for my glasses. You see, I was
browning chicken for homemade chicken noodle soup (see
recipe in Mom's Cookbook),
when a large spatter of boiling hot grease flew up from
the pan and hit me in the face. I quickly snatched off
my glasses and threw them on the counter, then scooped
some ice out of the icemaker and held it to my cheek.

After a few minutes I could feel no burning and could
see no spots on my face. I was puzzled. I knew it had
been a large spatter and that it had hit me directly in
the face. I had felt a little stinging on my cheek
when it happened, but I knew there was more grease than
that. I should have had a bad burn, yet I didn't. How
could that be?

Then I picked up my
discarded glasses and checked them out. The entire right
lense was coated with now cooled grease. Had I not
been wearing my glasses, I might have been permanently
blinded in my right eye!

Later in the
morning, despite using a spatter guard and being extra
cautious, I was splashed again, this time on my forearm,
producing several huge blisters. The wounds are serious
and may possibly scar. It was as though the Lord wanted
to make sure I would not forget just how bad things
could have been had the first splash hit me in an
unprotected eye. Thank you Lord for my glasses.

Psalm 33:18-19 -
"Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear
Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, to
deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in
famine." (NAS)

March
25, 2002:Today I was
helping my 6 year old with his math and we came across a
picture in his textbook of an American flag. Being a
diligent, dedicated, homeschooling mom, I jumped at the
opportunity to explain why there are 50 stars on our
American flag. I explained that there used to be 13
states, but now there are 50, so we now put 50 stars on
the flag, one for each state. Then I asked him, "Do
you know why there are 13 stripes?" I thought I had
given him enough of a hint to figure it out, so I wasn't
surprised when he answered brightly, "Yes!" I
said, "Why?" He answered confidentially,
"Because Bethany told me!" (Ah......
Michael, why are there 13 stripes, not: why do you know
there are 13 stripes, and were you listening at all?)
Hehehe, the joys of homeschooling and little kids!

Psalm 127:3 -
"Children are a gift from God; they are his
reward." (TLB)

February
18, 2002: Our 25th
wedding anniversary is today. The party was
yesterday. I must say that I think it was nicer than our
wedding! Close family and friends all came to our home
to celebrate with us. We didn't plan much (except the
food) but others picked up the slack and honored us with
some special memories. Our older children practiced in
secret and surprised us by playing "Jesu Joy of
Man's Desiring" as a string quartet (it was our
processional at our wedding), and a very special couple
played and narrated "A Daisy a Day" on flute
and accordion just as they did at our wedding 25 years
ago. I gave my husband a new wedding band (the plainest
gold with "My beloved is mine and I am his"
engraved on the inside), and he gave me a lovely
tanzanite ring, (but not to replace my wedding ring as I
still think it is the loveliest on earth). Best of all,
our children were there to celebrate with us. Can't say
that about our wedding day!

Song of Solomon
2:16 - "My beloved is mine and I am his."

February
16, 2002: Our little
Jeffy is now about 17 months old. Ever since he was born
he's been waking up at night to nurse, or more recently,
for a bottle, and I've been getting up and taking care
of him, no big deal. Lately it seems as though he has
been waking up more often than he ought to be at his
age, and that he is not really hungry. It seems that it
has just become a habit now to be asking for a milk
snack in the middle of the night.

Well, I've been thinking I'd kind of like to try
sleeping through the night just once, to see what it's
like, so I decided about a week ago, that it might be
time to tell Jeffy to forget the milk and quit waking up
at night.

Ever since then, every night when I hear, "Maa-mee,
baa-do", in the
middle of the night, I've been telling him, "Shhhhhhhh,
lay down and go nite, nite". He'll persist a little
and I'll persist a little, and a minute or two later
we'll both be sleeping again, at least for a few more
hours.

Last night was no different, around 1 or 2 am I heard
him call from his crib at the foot of my bed, "Maa-mee,
baa-do." I answered, "Jeffy, go nite, nite."
He became quiet and reluctantly went back to sleep.
Around 3 am, I heard him again. "Maa-mee?"
There was a pause this time......., then a carefully
articulated, "Cer-e-al?" BWHAAAHAHAHA! I just
had to get up and tend to him. So much for sleeping
through the night!

Matt 7:9-11 "Or what
man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a
loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a
fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If
you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your Father who is in
heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
(NAS)

February 13,
2002: After many
months of pondering and researching, my husband finally
took the plunge and had Lasik eye surgery to correct his
distance vision. He is thrilled with the results! The
surgery itself was a breeze. The entire procedure took
about 5 minutes. He said it was completely painless and
could have been mistaken for a thorough eye exam.
Afterward, there was no discomfort either, although his
eyes felt watery from the eye drops. He could
immediately see better than ever before in his life, and
was given sleeping pills and told to sleep for the next
6 hours. The next day his vision was better than 20/20.
Our oldest son (age 21) is looking forward to the
surgery now as well. It is truly a blessing that God has
given men the knowledge and ability to restore sight in
this way.

February
4. 2002: A very
dangerous situation averted: This evening dad came home,
walked in from the garage visibly upset, and started
yelling for EVERYONE to come IMMEDIATELY, especially our
oldest son, Shane (20 years old). Until we all showed
up, he kept asking if any kids were in the garage. When
we were all present and accounted for, he steered Shane
out to the garage and showed him a very scary situation.
Shane's truck was running, the garage doors were all
closed, and the garage was full of fumes.

After the garage doors were opened, and the garage aired
out, the truck was backed out and parked in the
driveway. We were then all given a stern lecture on the
dangers of running a car in a garage, especially a
closed garage.

Then some changes were made. From now on, Shane's truck
will NEVER be parked in the garage. Why? Shane has a
remote engine starter that he carries in his pocket.
HE had not carelessly turned the truck on and left it.
Apparently what had happened was that he must have
bumped into a table or something, accidentally hitting
the remote in his pocket, turning the truck on, all
without knowing it, from inside the house. None of us
heard it running or had reason to go into the garage
where we would have noticed it. Since our garage is
attached to our house, odorless and lethal carbon
monoxide fumes could have eventually seeped into our
house and possibly killed our whole family had dad not
come home, gone into the garage himself, and discovered
the truck running.

Thankfully, no one was injured and we learned an
extremely important lesson. The truck (as long as it can
be started by remote) will stay outside from now on.
There is too great a risk that a child might find the
remote and accidentally start the truck, or that the
remote might be accidentally bumped and the truck turned
on inside the garage without anyone knowing. We
thank God again for His protection.

Prov 19:23 -
"Reverence for God gives life, happiness, and
protection from harm."
(TLB)January 29, 2002: A very sad day. I gave
Jeffy (16mths) his first haircut. Bethany (15yo)
helped me by sitting him on her lap and holding his
little head still. He didn't mind at all, but I did.
Waaaaahhhh! Oh, I guess he's still cute, but I hate to
see those milestones come and go. Now he looks like a
little boy, not a baby, but he's still my baby. I saved
a lock of his dark brown hair in a labeled Ziploc bag
just like I have with all the others. Which reminds me,
someday I'm going to organize all those other baby
things I've saved. Hmmm, maybe I'll assign one of my
teens the job to do for me. Good idea!
Proverbs 11:21 "You can be very sure the evil man
will not go unpunished forever. And you can also be very
sure God will rescue the children of the godly."
(TLB)